Hee-haw! Readers Agree With Workplace View

The Work Place

November 04, 2002|By JAMES HEAPHEY Columnist

Here are some responses to my column on how managers tend to view workers as jackasses.

Retired executive, service organization: "Because bosses assume they have a right and obligation to manipulate and control, they make those below them think and act like jackasses. I recently retired from an organization in which many of the middle-level managers were in their positions because of internal politics, affirmative-action policies and dumb mistakes. So the jackasses were better than the bosses at doing their jobs and understanding the organization's needs. It was a nightmare."

Middle management, manufacturing: "We introduced job participation, which started off rather well. But when anyone suggested changes in company policy our management, including me, refused to consider it, particularly if it suggested improvements in how we were distributing resources like materials and pay. It wasn't long before the zest for participation deteriorated and the suggestion boxes were empty. Ten years or so ago I would have denied that I had a subconscious picture of those below me as jackasses, but I'll admit it today."

Minister, Norfolk: "The workplace in America is dominated by the Calvinistic idea that success is an indicator of being in God's favor. So it's not much of a stretch to see those below you as less worthy than you. God says so. Theologians argue about whether Calvin would have sanctioned treating those below you as less worthy, but no one can deny he set us up to reach that conclusion."

Graduate student, Williamsburg: "In a classic on leadership, the sociologist Philip Selznick said that leaders need to see themselves as, in Freudian terms, the ego which tames and directs the instinctive impulses (the id) of those below them. The ego is the brain and character of the organization. The id is the irrational, directionless energy. So of course underlings are jackasses."

Sales, Newport News: "I'm going to start a new organization: Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Working Jackasses."